Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 02.djvu/356

 COMEGYS

COMLEY

1837-41. He was married Feb. 16, 1804, to Euhamah, daughter of John Marhn, a lieutenant in the Revolutionarj^ army. Their daughter, Sally Ann, became the wife of Henry M. Ridgely, U.S. senator. His other children were Joseph Par- sons, U.S. senator and chief justice of Delaware; Dr. Cornelius George of Cincinnati; Benjamin Bartis, president of the Philadelphia national bank and a director of the Penn.sylvania railroad company ; William ; Mary Elizabeth ; Maria ; and John. He died in Dover, Del., Jan. 27, 1851.

COMEGYS, Joseph Parsons, senator, was born at " Cherbourg," Kent county, near Dover, Del., Dec. 29, 1813; son of Gov. Cornelius Par- sons and Ruhamah (Marim) Comegys. He was educated at the Dover classical academy, studied law under John M. Clayton and was admitted to the bar in 1835. He was a member of the state legislature, 1842-48 ; a member of the committee of 1851 to revise the state statutes ; declined the position of associate judge, offered without solici- tation on his part, in 1855 ; and on the death of Senator John M. Clayton, was appointed by Governor Causey to fill the vacancy in the United States senate, serving from Dec. 4, 1856, to March 4, 1857. While he was in the senate the legislature of Delaware met and proposed to re- elect him for the full term, although the legisla- ture was Democratic, but he declined on the ground that he was not a Democrat and could not represent that partj^. In 1860 he was a dele- gate to the National Union convention that nomi- nated John Bell and Edward Everett. In 1866 he was a delegate to the National Union conven- tion at Philadelphia, and from May 18, 1876, until January, 1893, was chief justice of Delaware. Before the civil war he declined a nomination for governor by the Democrats. He was a member and vice-president of the Historical society of Delaware and a member of the Historical society of Pennsylvania. He was married in 1837 to Mar- garet Ann Douglass, a niece and adopted daugh- ter of the Hon. John M. Clayton. She was the first vice-regent of the Moimt Vernon ladies' association for Delav%-are. The University of Pennsylvania conferred upon Judge Comegys the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1886. He pub- lished Memoir of John M. Clayton (1882). He died at Dover, Del., Feb. 1, 1893.

COMFORT, George Fisk, educator, was born in Berkshire, N.Y., Sept. 20, 1833; son of the Rev. Silas Comfort. He was graduated at W^es- leyan university, Conn., in 1857, was teacher of natural science, drawing and painting in the American seminary, N.Y., 1857-58, at the Fort Plain seminary, 1858-59, and of natural science and Latin in Van Norman institute. New Y'ork city, 1860. He studied general history, history of the fine arts, philosoi)hy, philology and archaj-

ology in Europe and the east, 1860-65, and was professor of modern languages and a?sthetics in the Allegheny college, Meadville, Pa., 1865-68. He engaged in the preparation of text books on modern languages, and as lecturer on Christian archcTBology in Drew theological seminary, Madi- son, N. J., 1868-71. He was professor of modern languages, aesthetics and history of fine arts in Syracuse university, 1872-83, and in 1873 was made dean of the College of fine arts connected with the university. In 1866 he was elected a member of the institutes of archaeology of Rome, Paris and Berlin, was chief organizer and secre- tary of the American philological association, 1869-73, was an organizer of the Metropolitan; museum of art. New York city, and was a trus- tee and member of the executive committee, a member of the American anthropological so- ciety, the Modern languages society, the Amer- ican oriental society, the Institute of architeofcs, and other learned societies in both Europe and America. He was married Jan. 19, 1871, to Anna, daughter of Alfred C. and Elizabeth (Sterling) Manning of Norwich, Conn. She was a member of the first class to graduate from the New York medical college for women, 1865, and was the first woman to practise medicine in Connecticut. On Aug 29, 1891, Dean Comfort was elected president of the Southern college of fine arts. La Porte, Texas, which he was largely instru- mental in founding and to which he trans- ferred his personal direction in 1892. The re- gents of the University of the state of 'Nevf Y^ork conferred upon him the degree of L.H.D. in 1889 and Syracuse university that of LL.D. in 1893. He was art editor of the Northern Christian Advocate from 1874 and contributed to various cyclopaedias on art subjects. He is the author of Esthetics in Collegiate Education (1867) ; A German Course (1870) ; A 3Ianual of German Con- versation (1870) ; A German Reader (1871) ; A First Book in German (1872) ; The First German Header (1872); A German Primer (1874); Woman^s Educa- tion and Woman's Health (with Anna Manning Comfort, 1874) ; The Land Troubles in Ireland (1881); Modern Languar/es in Education (1886); Tlie Fine Arts as a College Study ; Art Museums in America.

COMLEY, James Madison, diplomatist, was born in Perry county, Ohio, March 6, 1832. He was admitted to the bar at Columbus in 1859 and practised there till the opening of the civil war. He entered the Union army in June, 1861 ; became lieutenant-colonel of the 43d Ohio volunteers, Aug. 12, 1861; major of the 23d Ohio regiment, Oct. 31, 1861; and was brevetted brigadier- general, March 13, 1865. He afterward edited the Ohio State Journal for several years and was postmaster of Columbus, 1873-76. He served as